Scarlet Blossoms
by rt-empie
Summary: Separated from each at a young age, Kaito and Meiko reunite after 17 years. But why does she suddenly avoid him? Was it because the organization he had joined killed her parents? Or was it something else altogether? Was she hiding something? Rated T for slightly offensive language I guess?
1. Beginnings

**Hi. Thank you for reading. The first few chapters have minimal speech, but I promise there will be more talking latteerrr. Enjoy...? =D**

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**Chapter 1**

Kaito looked out from the cliff side, letting his eyes drink in the beautiful sunset. Despite being a man and normally only indulging himself in manly business, he did not see why he was not allowed to enjoy the view of the reddening sky as the sun dipped below the ocean's edge, and the clouds strewn across the horizon.

"Shion." Kaito turned around. General Kagamine Len stood behind him, arms crossed, not bothering to even glance properly him, not like that was anything new. "You're wasting your time _daydreaming_ again." The way he stressed out "daydreaming" was the way some would stress out what they felt about eating rats.

"Sorry, sir," Kaito answered with as little respect as he could muster, and bowed to his senior. Len grabbed Kaito's hair and pulled it down to his face and looked him in the eyes. His brow wrinkled, and his eyes were blazing. Kaito nearly yelped but was able to keep his normal, composed face; a face he had learnt to quickly master ever since he joined the Scarlet Tiger.

"Listen up. Our division is travelling to the abandoned town to investigate the massacre. We are not to waste any time, as we have close to none of it. Got it? As a member of Scarlet Tiger, you have signed yourself into making sure justice prevails in our world, and _I_, as the leader of this division, won't be letting _you_ forget that." Len let go of Kaito's hair and tapped the katana that was strapped to the side of his armour. With a swift movement, he had turned around and was starting to walk off the cliff. Kaito nodded, bowed once again and followed him off the mountain side.

* * *

The rest of the division had already set up camp, and most of them were getting ready to lie down and sleep. General Kagamine had excused himself to his tent and had left the rest of them to satisfy their own "social needs", as he called them.

The six of them – the rest of the division – sat quietly around the burning fire, looking at each other wearily from across the flames.

"We've been travelling for DAYS! I can't believe that-" Miku exclaimed and suddenly stopped to lower her voice, "Len is making us go so far. Geez, what a_ jerk_."

"Miku, try to understand his situation. He has a lot on his shoulders, and he would obviously rather to get the job over and done with. Besides, it's good pay," Luka answered, brushing off some dirt of her yukata. Miku pouted for a moment and said nothing.

"Oi, Gakupo, pass over the water will 'ya." Gakupo responded to Rin's joking command by throwing the water bag at her over the fire, some of the water dripping out and slightly dousing the flames.

"Watch it, Gakupo. It'll take ages to make another fire," Gumi retorted, staring intently into the flames, not bothering to look anyone and sighed. Kaito saw no point in staying up late to engage in useless conversation, so he stood up and stretched.

"You going to bed Kai?" Gakupo asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah, no point in staying up. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Already, Kai-kun?" Miku whined, looking up at him.

"Yeah. 'Night guys."

* * *

Kaito couldn't sleep that night, not like that was anything new with the job he was doing. He looked up at the roof of his small tent and watched as rain drops slowly started to patter down.. How bothersome. He closed his eyes and let the sound of rain drops fill his ears. It sounded so gentle and familiar, like the soothing voice of a lover. Kaito smiled to himself. What was he talking about; he never loved anyone, let alone had a _lover_. He had dedicated his life to bringing justice to the world, like Len had said, so he didn't have time to waste on such puny matters. He felt his eyelids growing heavy, and let the sound of rain lull him into tranquil sleep.

The rain continued to gently fall to the ground. Little did Kaito know that that night would be the last night he would ever sleep so peacefully again.

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**Was it okay? please review, favourite and follow. Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate it a lot :3**

**EDIT: After reading through again, i fixed up a few mistakes... don't hesitate to tell me if I made any mistakes or if anything doesn't make sense _because_ of a mistake. Thank you!**


	2. Sweet Reunions?

**Hi again guys! I'm uploading this while I'm at school... so there will definitely be a few mistakes I haven't noticed ^^' Thank you for reading my fanfic. Still not a lot of talking - I guess this is the deal is for first chapters. I hope it's alright.**

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**Chapter 2**

"WAKE UP. WE'RE MOVING."

Kaito groaned as Len's voice rang out from outside his tent. As much as he loved his job, he loved sleeping as well. Couldn't people just take a break some days?

Kaito slowly crawled out of his tent and began to wrap his belt strings around his waist on his clothes and slipped his katana into the belt. Luka and Gakupo were helping each other roll up the tents and Rin was sharpening her knives on a rock, the screaking sounds of the metal resonating throughout the camp. Gumi and Miku were loading the equipment onto a cart they had brought them, and Len was handing out water bags and small knives. In fact, he wasn't even giving them out, he was throwing them.

Kaito caught the knives clumsily, cutting his finger in the process and warm blood began to spill from the small wound. He was not in pain or hurt, he was just annoyed that Len was too damn lazy to just walk over and _give_ it to them. Then again, it was probably a practice of skill.

"We're near the town, so I want everyone to keep their guard up. Understand?"

Everyone nodded and continued with their business. Kaito sat down, sighing, and began to roll take down his tent when Miku bounded up to him.

"Kaito-kun. I can help you with that," she smiled, giving him sweet puppy eyes. Kaito looked at her with blank eyes and nodded in approval. The sun's rays were only just starting to brush against the mountain side, and they were already up and moving. It was tiring, but the job was rewarding and definitely worth the sweat and blood.

* * *

The troupe were steadily approaching their destination and the tallest of the buildings in the abandoned village were beginning to peak over the small trees and scarce forest. Dry smoke was still in the air from two weeks ago when the village was reportedly burnt down and message was sent to Scarlet Tiger to investigate the incident.

Kaito stared at the village as it slowly crawled into view. All the homes were burnt and falling, and the ground was blackened with ashes and debris. Smaller wooden buildings were collapsing under their own weight and the singed, almost unrecognisable simple furniture could be seen and were starting to crumble under the forced of the breeze. .. Piles of rotting bodies still reeked of charred flesh and there was not a person in sight. It was truly an abandoned village.

Len stepped onto the darkened ground and unsheathed his sword. He began to tap the ground with the tip and Kaito watched as the ashes were so easily sifted with his sword .Len turned back to the troupe.

"Troupe, set up camp here. We're going to investigate the town separately. Take your weapons, cover as much ground as possible, leave no stone unturned. I want reports on the whole village before dusk. Got it? Now get a map from the cart of the town and move out," Len instructed. With a swift movement, he had stuck his sword into one of the scrolls of the maps and walked off, holding out his sword in front of him.

"What a _showoff, _it's already so obvious that the killer burnt the village down after himself, what's the rush," Rin growled. She twirled a knife around her finger and snatched a map from the cart and walked off.

"Back at her, don't you think." Kaito muttered, the rest of them laughing a bit The rest of the group slowly began to drop their belongings in a neat pile and Gumi rested a canvas covering over the pile. They began to disperse when Kaito felt a tug on his sleeve.

"Kai-kun~ Let's go together!" Miku whined, looking up at him. Miku was an energetic member of Scarlet Tiger, and was one of the youngest, about only 17 years of age. Gakupo used to always joke with him about how Miku was falling for him but Kaito would _always_ politely return Gakupo's comments with a punch in the stomach, often rendering him unconscious. Kaito looked back at Miku and began to consider what Len would do if they were to disobey his orders of investigating the village _separately_. Probably never see the light of day again, but then again, what happens if they were snooping around the village and had bumped into each other anyway? They had no specific reason why _not_ to go in pairs… so it would have been safe for them to just bend the rule a _little_ bit, right? Kaito shrugged.

"Sure, why not?"

Miku replied with a squeal of delight and grabbed Kaito's arm, trying to push her body against his. _That_ was disturbing. Kaito immediately regretted his decision, but what was done was done, and he was too nice to tell her to piss off.

"How about we go around the edges of the town first? We'll see if we can find anything strange." Kaito assessed, eyeing Miku as she smiled cheerfully at him. It was going to be a _long_ day.

* * *

"We found nothing strange beside a whole lot of burnt buildings and a few dead domesticated animals."

It was nearing dusk, and the group was sitting around a fire. They had set up camp on a burnt deserted landscape where there used to be forests – the fire had obviously burnt down a huge area of land around the village. Kaito was just sharing his findings with General Kagamine, his arms lazily crossed and his body sapping up the warmth of the fire.

Len nodded and was about to turn to Gumi for her report when he stopped and raised an eyebrow at Kaito. "What do you mean 'we'?"

_Crap! _Kaito began to try and think of an excuse for him saying "'we' found nothing", but Len read all.

"You went with Miku, didn't you?"

Kaito looked down and was preparing to be brutally murdered by Len when Rin began to blabber about the town.

"Well, the town was really, really, really black and deserted, and there wasn't really anything to report on, but I found a whole bunch of burnt tatami mats that smelt of dead cats! Ut then I realized that there was a dead cat under the tatami mat and I decided to bury it, and I made it a whole to bury it in and I gave it a short funeral and I saw a bird fly across the sky with funny markings! I think it was an eagle of some sort, so I thought I would come ask you later, but that's beside the point. I saw a whole bunch of burnt money as well, and I swear it was worth a whole much more than a normal person's weekly wage, then again, the house I found it in was bigger than normal, so the family was probably combined and…" Rin had obviously sensed Kaito's worry and was trying to cover up for him. Len saw this as well.

"Fine. Kaito, I will let you off this time. Miku, you too. Don't disobey me again, got it?"

Kaito and Miku nodded vigorously in unison, earning a mischievous snort from Luka and Gakupo, and a giggle from Gumi.

"There such a cute couple, don't you think?" "Yeah!"

Kaito glared at them and Miku was smiling in delight. It obviously made her ecstatic to know that she and her crush were _cute_ together. Kaito on the other hand, simply felt annoyed that a 26 year old man could actually look like an _item_ next to a 17 year old. That was simply creepy.

Kaito stood up abruptly, and looked at Len. "Sir, I'd like to walk around the village to see if anything seems out of place, if that's okay with you."

Len nodded and crossed his arms. "You have my approval."

"Thank you, sir." Kaito bowed and walked out of the camp, hearing faint whispers of words like "Wow, he's embarrassed!", "You two are sooo cute!", "Are they going to advance in their relationship?".

How annoying.

* * *

Kaito had tried to get away from the group, but now had to face the terrible stench of ash and decaying flesh from the village – it was nearly as suffocating as the conversation they were having earlier. _And_ he had already tripped and fallen into shallow ditches at least five times due to the creeping darkness night-time brought.

_Maybe_ _I should head back. I'm tired _and_ I'm hungry, _Kaito thought, and began to turn around. He nearly slapped himself in the face with the realization. He was hopelessly lost in the village at night. What a genius thing to do.

_Now what do I do?!_ He began to panic and tried to measure what time it was. It was only about eight at night, and it would take at least another hour before the moon would shine bright enough to at least see where he was going. Darnit.

_CRACK_

Kaito jerked upwards and drew out his katana.

"Who's there?! Show yourself!" he whipped himself around, eyes darting in all directions. _What made the noise?_He looked out into the darkness hesitantly, scanning the darkness, hoping that he could somehow miraculously be able to see in the dark.

"Don't hurt me." A gentle voice chimed from in the darkness. It was a woman's voice. "I don't mean any harm. Please don't hurt me."

Kaito's eyes widened in surprise and shock. _What? Was there a person here? _

A tiny lantern light was starting to approach him, and he held out his sword in front of him. Sweat dripped down his face. There was a woman holding the lantern, her clothes slightly tattered from the wind and cold.

"It can't be, is it really you…Kaito?" The woman's eyes were wide in shock, and Kaito saw it. .

There was a vine shaped scar on her face, covering her eye. It couldn't be…

Kaito's expression changed from one of fear to one of joy. It was the joy of meeting someone he hadn't met in 17 years.

"…Meiko!"

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**Ooooh! Reunion between Kaito and Meiko! This is set in sort of ancietn-ish Japan, just saying, if you haven't noticed. Yayy! Please review, favourite, follow and critique? Thank you for reading...!**


	3. Stay away

**BOOOM! Chapter 3 is hereeee! At the end, there's more dialogue! (finally...) More talk from now on..! Enjoy :3**

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**Chapter 3**

"…Meiko!"

Kaito hastily sheathed his katana and ran up to her, scooping her up in a tight hug. Meiko laughed with joy and returned his embrace, nearly dropping her lantern.

"It's been so long, Meiko…" said Kaito, releasing his tight hold of Meiko and looked closely at the scar on her face. It had been 17 long years before he had last seen the scar, and seeing it again brought back so many childhood memories. Meiko smiled at him and brushed a lock of dark brown hair from her eyes.

"Yes, it has been." Meiko answered, and held the lantern in between up to his face so she could see him properly. He looked so similar to when he was young – he had the same skin colour, mouth, nose, hair and sapphire blue eyes. He looked like he hadn't changed as all. But she knew he had. She knew that he wouldn't be the same person he was that long time ago. He would have changed, and for the better too. Meiko's smile faded and looked down at her feet. She placed her hand over her left eye to cover her scar.

Kaito looked curiously at Meiko. "Hey, are you okay?"

Meiko looked back at him and lowered the lantern. "Yes, I… I'm fine." Kaito wrapped her arm around her, and she nearly shuddered. He looked at her worryingly – her body was as cold as ice and he saw in her clouded eyes that she was scared.

"What have you been doing the last 17 years?" he asked, in hopes to comfort her from whatever she was feeling.

"N…Nothing much. I guess…" she stuttered. She was shocked and slightly happy that Kaito was worried about her. It had been so long since she felt such pure warmth from anyone.

"Where do you live now?" Kaito asked. They were starting to walk slowly through the village. The smell of putrid flesh and bodies seem to have deteriorated around them, and it seemed like they were just having a normal conversation between the closest of friends.

"I live a little far from here; in a fortressed town." Kaito began to try to remember any fortressed towns in the area, in the hopes that he could visit her one day.

"What about you, Kaito? Where do you live?"

"In one of the major towns. I'm a member of Scarlet Tiger," Kaito beamed. Despite the hardships when enlisting into the troupe of "justice bringers", being a member of Scarlet Tiger was a dream to most people, and they were highly respected. Kaito looked to Meiko and expected to see her smling at him and congratulating him. Instead, her eyes showed her horror, and she was evidently trying to remain calm. She looked terrified.

"What's wrong?"

"N…Nothing! Being a member of Scarlet Tiger is great! Y…Yeah!" She couldn't even lie properly. Kaito stopped and looked at her, the dim light of the lantern obscuring her scar. There were tears in her eyes.

"Meiko… did I make you cry? I'm sorry… um…"

"No, it's not that." Meiko wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her yukata, her flowery hair ornament bobbing up and down. "…it's just that… Scarlet Tiger…"

"….Scarlet Tiger killed my parents."

* * *

"I'm sorry Kaito, but I have to go."

Meiko turned away from him and sighed sadly, glimpsing back at him. Kaito stared at her in disbelief. She couldn't just _leave_ after they had only met for about an hour or so…?

"Hey, Meiko. I can come meet you in your village right?"

Meiko turned back him, what Kaito saw in her eyes was an expression he had never seen before. It was an expression of mixed fear and anger, a frightening expression that she had never used.

"No. Please, don't come visit me. My life is hard, and I wouldn't be able to meet you properly anymore. I'm sorry. Goodbye, Kaito."

Kaito could only watch as she began to walk away into the darkness, stopping to put down her lantern.

"Here, you take this. You need it more than I do." She didn't even look at him, but he could tell that she was choking on tears. What was going on? Sure, he was a member of Scarlet Tiger, but did that make her hate him so much?

She had already left, and the stench of ashes and death began to strengthen around him. He needed to go back to camp.

* * *

"Hey, Kaito, you were out for a while, so I was becoming worried," Luka said, as Kaito walked back into the view of the warm campfire. The others had already retired to their tents, and Luka seemed to be just about to, as she was untying her hair. Gakupo always used to secretly admire the way Luka undid her hair, and he would always talk to Kaito about it, and Kaito would tell him to get a proper life. Gakupo didn't watch Luka undo her hair every night anymore, instead, he always tried to get a good peek at her while she was bathing with the other girls, often getting himself sliced up by Luka, but he always said it was worth it.

"Yeah, I was out. Did anything important happen?"

"No, not really. You should get some rest. We'll be investigating nearby villages next. We're going to see if anything relating to the arson can be found out. Miku was worried about you being so late. What _were_ you doing?" she asked, as she slipped on smaller knives and a bag of salt. She looked at him anxiously and patiently waited. Kaito knew he was _not_ going to get out of this one with just 'nothing really'.

"I was just looking around, then I got lost." That was half true, and Kaito tried desperately to look Luka in the eye when he said that, to try and look innocent. Luka raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

"If you want to hide something, you should practice. Even _I _can read your face, and you know I'm terrible at that," she answered, smiling sympathetically. Kaito looked at her in disbelief, and she laughed almost mockingly, and pointed to the lantern he was holding.

"'Night," and with that, she had dismissed herself into her own tent.

Kaito sighed and ran his hands through his dark blue hair. He sat down near the still-burning fire and looked through the flames. They were going to look at "nearby villages", but there were quite a few. What were the chances they would go to the fortressed village where Meiko was? Highly unlikely – it would be heavily guarded, and it would only make sense to go to towns that were less secured for life's sake of simplicity.

But that night, he couldn't help thinking that everyone else seemed so much closer to each other than he did. He was always keeping his emotions to himself, never letting them show to anyone. In fact, the only person he had ever revealed himself to was Meiko, and it would be long before he met her again.

But what was wrong with her? Meiko seemed afraid of him somehow. What happened to her?

He couldn't sleep well, and dreamt too many nightmares for a night.

* * *

It was morning, and Kaito was helping Gumi load the cart. He was still thinking about the day before when he realized that she was trying to speak to him.

"Kaito, nii-san, did you just hear what I said?"

"Uh… no. Sorry, could you say it again?"

"I asked you what you did last night." Kaito cringed at the question, but was cautious not to show that.

"NO LOITERING! GET YOUR ASSES UP AND MOVING. WE GOT A JOB TO DO." Len bellowed, watching down at them from the top of a boulder he had miraculously climbed.

"Yessir." No one was bothered to argue, and Gumi didn't ask Kaito again. But that made him wonder, what _was _Meiko doing out so late at night, in a burnt down village with nothing to protect herself with?

"Len~! Get over here!" Rin cooed. They all snapped a horrified face to Rin, who was smiling brightly as she tied up a blanket in a tight knot. There were all somewhat jealous of her – Rin was the only one who could address him so casually and not get merciless punishment. It wasn't fair, but it was a running joke in their division.

"Don't call me by my first name in such a nasty tone. Watch your tongue, Kagamine."

"LENNERS!"

"Kagamine, I want you to stop packing up and do a hundred pushups now."

"But your name is Kagamine too, so _you_ have to do it too~."

"Two hundred."

"But LEN…!"

"THREE HUNDRED."

The rest of them couldn't help but laugh a bit at Rin, but they could all see that she thought it was definitely worth getting on Len's bad side just to annoy him. They looked similar and even had the same last name, and it was sometimes even _adorable_ to see them almost _argue_ over the puniest of matters.

"The rest of you, keep laughing and I'll have to break a neck today."

That shut everyone up. Why? Because Kagamine Len was _not_ afraid to do it – heck, once Kaito himself disobeyed that rule and literally had an arm broken.

"EVERYONE. MOVE! We're going to the town closest by, Rian, and we're going to do some of _that_ investigation. We're going to work out who was behind the massacre if it's the _last thing we do._"

"Wait… Luka you faggot, you never told me that we had to do _that_ sort of investigation," Kaito spat, mostly in annoyance but slightly in humour.

"Well, we are doing _that_ sort of investigation."

"But why?"

"SHION, MEGURINE, KAMUI. ONE HUNDRED PUSHUPS."

"Hey, why me too?" Gakupo groaned, as the three of them trudged slowly to where Rin was on her 47th push-up and started counting.

Kaito began to think to himself. Why did Len order some of _that_ type of investigation to be carried out. What evidence had they found was so worrying that they needed to do _that?_

* * *

**_YAY__! _Thank you for reading! Please review/favourite/follow! **


	4. That Investigation

**Lalalala~ Yay, chapter 4. I haven't been updating as much as I'd like, but then again...yeah. It will take time for me to write the next few chapters before I upload anything. Please be patient x3 Thank you for reading!**

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**Chapter 4**

They were in the town of Rian by midday, and Len was "negotiating" (bribing) with a local innkeeper over the prices of staying overnight at the inn. The rest had already been tasked to investigate the town and get as much information as possible, and had permission to do anything possible to get it. Rin, as normal, was required to be supervised by Kaito so she wouldn't go overboard with her threats, which she normally did anyway.

"Bitch, you sure you got no info for me to wheedle out of ya?" Rin growled, tapping her sheathed katana on the shoulder of a passing civilian. The civilian was obviously terrified, and was shaking his head furiously. Kaito nearly had to rip Rin's yukata collar to get her off the poor man's case.

"Dude, cool it," Kaito muttered, after they were at least a billion miles away from the man, who had collapsed from fear and people were dragging him away. Rin flipped around and glared at Kaito.

"Oi, our _job_ was to get as much info out of those guys," Rin spat, pointing over her shoulder at a crowd of people, not looking back at them. They were all muttering suspiciously at her, pointing small fingers at her as the whispered – Rin didn't seem to notice anyway. "Plus, you _still_ need to thank me for saving your ass from Len the other day."

"You mean yesterday."

"Yeah, whatever." Rin rolled her eyes. Kaito sighed and ran his hands through his hair. Thoughts of the night before still haunted him in a way. Meiko looked genuinely angry and frightened. She didn't want him to meet her. Was she afraid of him? Scarlet Tiger _did_ take away her parents, and he definitely couldn't blame her for hating him for being a part of it.

"Shion, Kagamine." Len stood in front of the arguing pair and they looked up (or _down_ in Kaito's case) to him. "You two. If you see the others wandering around like headless chickens, tell them that we got a room in the inn. I'm off to meet the mayor," he grunted, flicking a lock of his hair out of his face.

"For how much, sir?" Kaito asked, nearly biting his tongue when he realized he answered in such a mocking manner.

"Less than the usual price. Nearly had to break his leg for it," Len grinned menacingly and chuckled to himself, turning away from the pair and walked off.

Kaito nodded and watched the General leave. Rin stuck her tongue out at him from behind his back and stormed off before Kaito could follow her.

Damn, that ninja, Kaito groaned, scratching his head. Where did she go? There wasn't really any point looking for her now, besides, the only thing she would do is snap back at him. Yeesh.

He shrugged awkwardly and started to interrogate another poor civilian who happened to be within eyeshot.

"What I do with my life sometimes," he mumbled.

* * *

Kaito was sitting down by the river bank, and was once again indulging himself with nature as the cherry blossoms floated down onto his face and clothes. Young children were playing with each other, and observant mothers where quietly gossiping, most likely about a foreign blue-headed man being there, his eyes closed peacefully and was somewhat enjoying himself.

"You little SHIT. HOW DARE YOU TAKE THE FOOD WITHOUT PAYING?!"

Kaito slowly opened his eyes and noticed that the sounds of children had faded and he was alone. A girl with bright yellow clothes ran into view, her long blonde hair flying into her face as she ran. She started to cross the small and shallow river but he was way too fast for anyone.

He grabbed her wrists and pinned her down in the shallow water. She screamed and struggled, and she had cut her face on a rock and blood began to spill from her wound.

"Oi, don't struggle, or I'll have to break your arms," he said coolly. The girl looked up at him angrily then her eyes widened.

"Scarlet Tiger?" she asked. Kaito looked at her curiously and realized she was staring at his Scarlet Tiger tattoo that had been drawn on his neck. It was of a red tiger face with red stripes criss-crossed over it that looked like blood.

"Yes…?" he asked.

"She's ours. We're going to be dealing with her later." The men who had been chasing her finally caught up and glared menacingly at her and started cracking their knuckles.

"Don't let them," she whispered. She turned to look into his eyes.

"Why shouldn't I?" Kaito glared at her and stole a glimpse at the men. Most of them were fat looking bastards with nothing better to do with their lives, and he started to realize that the girl might have not actually stolen anything and that those men were chasing her for different reasons.

"About the massacre. I think I might be able to help you."

* * *

"So. What information do you have for me?" Kaito asked as he sipped his tea. The girl glanced at him and looked down again.

After plenty of bribery with the 3 men from before, Kaito and the girl had managed to escape and were now sitting in a small shop and were drinking tea.

"Oh, I haven't asked you for your name yet," he continued, looking up at the girl.

She breathed in. "My name's Lily. I was meaning to tell some of you about the massacre, but then those men started chasing me."

Kaito nodded and lightly plunked down his cup. He propped his elbows onto the table and rested his head on his hands. "Continue."

"Well. About the massacre… I'm sure it wasn't _just_ a massacre," she continued. He eyed her suspiciously and noticed tiny beads of sweat appearing on her forehead.

"We've worked that out. Please continue." Lily nodded and placed her hands in her lap.

"I saw demons eating the bodies of people. They burnt the village down after that."

Kaito's eyes widened in shock. _Demons? _He then remembered what Len and Luka had said earlier, that they were doing _that _sort of investigation, an exorcist's investigation. But that didn't mean any new information right? Kaito's eyes darkened in utmost disappointment.

"As a part of Scarlet Tiger, an exorcist's army, we're already aware of that," Kaito sighed and ran his hands through his hair. Lily looked at him and brushed some of her blonde hair out of her face. He was starting to get up from his chair when Lily's hand darted across the table and grabbed his sleeve. She shook her head and Kaito, not really understanding, sat back down.

"Yes. I know that. But I saw a woman there as well. She wasn't being eaten or even touched by the demons. She was standing in the middle of the place."

Kaito stared at Lily and grabbed her shoulders.

"…Watch it! That hurts you know!" She winced and accidentally scratched the small wound she had received earlier.

"This woman. Describe her." _It couldn't be Meiko could it?_ Kaito's hands clenches around Lily's shoulders and his eyes narrowed.

"Black hair. Bloodied skin. Blue robes," she stuttered. Kaito's grip loosened on her shoulders and he would have breathed a sigh of relief but he had to keep focused and show no emotion at all.

"I see. Thank you. Is there anything else you know?" Lily shook her head and Kaito smiled. "Thank you for your cooperation. I'm sure that this will help us."

* * *

**DUN DUN DUN. yeah, scarlet tiger is actually an organization of exorcists~ I'll leave you to speculate what happened to Meiko's parents and the new character(s) of Lily and the lady with black hair and blue robes.**

**Please favourite, follow and review!**


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